LATEST NEWS

December 9, 2014 at 4:38 P.M.

The Board of the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority today took a significant step toward an agreement with Tyler Perry Studios. In a meeting this afternoon, the Board passed a resolution defining the boundaries for ~330 acres of the Fort McPherson property on which Tyler Perry Studios will develop and operate a film studio. The anticipated agreement with Tyler Perry Studios will afford the Redevelopment Authority an historic opportunity to redevelop ~144 acres – an area about the size of the Atlantic Station redevelopment – along Lee Street and Campbellton Road in Southwest Atlanta.

We are grateful to Mayor Kasim Reed and our other partners at the City of Atlanta, City of East Point, Fulton County, and the State of Georgia, for their support of this anticipated transaction. The pending deal will allow the Redevelopment Authority to acquire the former Army base from the federal government without local taxpayer funds. The proposed film studio development brings with it a chance to create hundreds of permanent jobs, thousands of production jobs, opportunities for tourism, and to catalyze additional investment in the surrounding community.

Tyler Perry Studios’ commitment to develop and operate a film studio on part of the Fort McPherson property provides an historic opportunity to redevelop 330 acres in Southwest Atlanta. It also opens the door for the McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority to redevelop an additional 144 acres along Lee Street and Campbellton Road.

The benefit to the community of the Tyler Perry acquisition is threefold:

The deal provides funds needed to acquire the former Army base from the federal government without using local taxpayer funds. Without this funding the site would continue to languish;

The film studio will create hundreds of permanent jobs, thousands of production jobs, opportunities for tourism, and it will catalyze additional investment in the surrounding community;

The redevelopment of the remaining 144 acres, an area about the size of the Atlantic Station redevelopment, will remain under public control, be guided by the redevelopment plan established with significant community input in 2010, and keep consistent with our mission to better connect to the surrounding communities, generate jobs, promote economic development, and support the homeless.

We are pleased to share with the community the Memorandum of Understanding between the Redevelopment Authority and Tyler Perry Studios that summarizes the pending transaction. In particular the MOU:

outlines the basics of the real estate transaction including land description, price, payments/phases, schedule, earnest money, inspection period and exclusivity;

sets a tight 60-day timeline for the Redevelopment Authority, the U.S. Army, and Tyler Perry Studios to execute the transaction; and

sets the stage for more specific negotiations, due diligence and planning to complete this complex transaction.

We have already publicly shared many of the details in the MOU about the transaction, including price, acreage, target dates, and overall plans for the site. We are releasing the MOU document publicly for the benefit of all constituents, answering an open records request. We are grateful to Tyler Perry Studios for further supporting transparency and openness by agreeing to release the MOU.